


Highs & Lows

by orphan_account



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Kara is human in this AU, Maggie Sawyer -mentioned, Sanvers is very vey to the side, Thats why its Untagged, side monwinn, to be very accurate neighborhours to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 10:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9488168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The last name Luthor came with a host of privileges that Lena thoroughly appreciated, much to the displeasure of the rest of the school. For one, she had the largest room on campus. The room right next to hers, 307, was largely uninhabited for most of the school year, so for all intents and purposes she had two rooms. That's how it's always been. 307, according to school myths, was cursed. She could attest to that, she'd had three different neighbours in the past term. The first one had flunked out, the second got expelled, and the third had convinced Lena's mother to let her change rooms. Another perk of having her mother as the headmistress was that she was always ahead of every important announcement at the school, except, for some reason, why there were suitcases in the hallway, and why former head girl Alex Danvers was moving them into 307.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> My knowledge of boarding schools is limited to my own experience, and I go to a partially British one, so not everything will be 100% accurate. That being said, I hope you enjoy.  
> You can find me at @iylleven on tumblr  
> Also I'm looking for a co-writer for this, if you're interested just message me about it on my tumblr, start with 'About H&L so I know why you're there

The last name Luthor came with a host of privileges that Lena thoroughly appreciated, much to the displeasure of the rest of the school. For one, she had the largest room on campus. The room right next to hers, 307, was largely uninhabited for most of the school year, so for all intents and purposes she had two rooms. That's how it's always been. 307, according to school myths, was cursed. She could attest to that, she'd had three different neighbours in the past term. The first one had flunked out, the second got expelled, and the third had convinced Lena's mother to let her change rooms. Another perk of having her mother as the headmistress was that she was always ahead of every important announcement at the school, except, for some reason, why there were suitcases in the hallway, and why former head girl Alex Danvers was moving them into 307.

Most troubling of all, why some random girl with a uniform that was at least three inches too short to meet the uniform code was lugging two very heavy looking suitcases after her.

She considered finding out for sure, but that would mean admitting that she didn't know in the first place. So she resigned to just ignoring them. They, however, did not seem to get the memo. Just as she was about to turn her door handle, something heavy and decidedly leather slammed into her, knocking her forward into her closed door. For the first time, Lena Luthor found herself inhaling the carpeted floor of the hallway as she tried not to focus on the throbbing in her nose, but rather at her throbbing anger. 

She turned herself over, sitting up on the floor, ready to tear into whoever had assaulted her with a suitcase, but instead, she caught Alex Danvers giving her the look from out of the corner of her eye. It was the exact same look she'd given Maxwell Lord right before she slammed his face into a metal table for questioning her authority as head girl. So instead of tearing into the girl, she resigned to glaring angrily at Alex as she stood up.

"Luthor," Alex said, folding her arms and doubling down on her 'look'.

"Danvers," Lena mirrored her stance. A moment of tense silence passed before the girl, arms laden with bags, offered Lena her hand to shake. 

"Hi, I'm Kara," the girl said, overly peppy and enthusiastic for five in the afternoon. Hundreds of scathing responses ran through her head, but she couldn't settle for one and the moment passed. "Um, okay," the girl deflated slightly and lowered her hand, "your nose is um." Kara gestured towards her nose.

She was suddenly aware of the blood slowly making its way down her face. The Kara girl whipped out a handkerchief from God knows where and was this close to actually touching Lena's face when Lena's hand stopped hers in mid - air. 

"Don't touch me." It's firm and final, and regardless of the way Alex Danvers sets her on fire with the look on her face, she squeezed the girl's wrist slightly before letting go and exiting the hallway.

Behind her door, she took a deep breath (through her mouth like a halfwit) and called her mother.

 

▪

Alex knew the myth of 307. She'd watched first hand as Lillian Luthor had systematically destroyed the lives of anyone unlucky enough to end up with Lex Luthor's former room. There was Angela in third year who'd been expelled two days into the term, Michelle who flunked out at half term, David who'd broken his legs tumbling down the stairs, the list went on. No one even pretended that any higher forces were at work, at least no forces higher than Lillian.

It came as no surprise that the youngest Luthor had coincidentally been assigned the room right next door, a room that also happened to adjoin to 307, granting her the privilege of two rooms. Even when she was head girl, Alex's room wasn't that large. That was one of the many reasons Alex hated the Luthors. The other reason had just played out in front of her. She had to physically restrain herself from taking the girl down when she'd grabbed Kara's arm hard enough to make her wince with pain.

Luckily enough, Lena had retreated into her room before Alex could change her mind about being passive. She had no idea how visibly furious she was until Kara placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"It's not worth it Alex," Kara said in that Kara voice she had, the one she used whenever she was trying to talk someone out of someone, not quite a mom voice, but more of a mom friend voice. "Aren't you the one who said I shouldn't start anything?" 

"That was before I knew you'd be next door neighbours with a Luthor. She's like Voldemort's little sister."

"If it's any conciliation, you can pretend you're the one who knocked her face first into a door." Kara could see the anger dissipate from Alex, and her scowl was replaced with an almost serene smile.

"Have I ever told you you're the best?"

▪

Kara had smoothed her skirt down at least three times already but all she could think of was how short it was. Even though Alex had assured her that she'd get a new one by the end of the week when she kissed her on the forehead as she was about to leave, she'd read the student handbook overnight and her uniform was not regulation. It was on the other end of the spectrum from regulation. 

She could feel the eyes on her as she walked down the hall, some gave her a quick once over, others lingered in places that made Kara shiver slightly. For some reason, the entire middle of the hallway was empty. People were pressed as far away from the centre as possible. She wondered if it was because she was new, she could understand trying to avoid the girl that arrived out of the blue a term and eight weeks late. She also suspected it had something to do with her current living arrangements.

They were not parted for her, she realised, as she felt herself tumbling forward onto the floor. Walking behind her, and going generally unnoticed by Kara, was Lena Luthor, wearing her own pristine uniform and sporting a white band-aid across her nose. 

"Consider that a belated thank you, Kara," Lena said in a voice low enough that even Kara barely heard it. She did not, however, miss the way Lena said her name, much like the way Alex said Luthor, full of contempt. 

Lena didn't even break her stride as she walked, no sauntered, away. 

▪

Winn Schott Jr knew Lena Luthor more than most - not necessarily better, just more frequently - being second best to Lena in nearly everything meant he caught the most shit from the Luthor cronies; the kids that thought that sucking up to the Luthors would get them somewhere. So when she tripped the new girl he was assigned to guiding, like tripped her with her own legs, instead of whispering to Jess who'd then whisper to Ethan who'd then trip the unfortunate peron, he was shocked. So shocked, that he didn't notice the girl walking away.

"Hey!" he called after her, as the crowd began to condense again after Lena had passed. The girl turned around, looked for who was calling her, and upon not seeing anyone, continued walking to her first class. Winn sighed from where he was hidden behind a throng of taller students.

▪

By some twist of karmic fate, Kara's first class also featured Lena. As soon as she stepped into the classroom and sighted the long dark hair and the green eyes they framed, she knew it was going to be a very long day. The sentiment seemed to be mutual, because as soon as they locked eyes, Kara standing daftly in the doorway, Lena sitting dead centre of the class rom and flanked by two of her cronies, Kara could see the slight curve of Lena's lips.

Karma was only partially against her because there were three free seats in the back of the class, all at least three seats away from Lena. Alex had advised her to sit as close to the front as possible, but she'd also advised her to avoid Lena, and she couldn't exactly do that when she'd be in her eye line. 

When the class started, the teacher called her to the front to introduce herself. Barely a second after she introduced herself as Kara 'Danvers', a girl dead centre in the front interrupted her.

"Any relation to Alex Danvers?"

"Yeah, she's my sister."

"I never knew Alex had a sister," the boy that had been sitting next to her added. 

"She's my foster sister." This was taking a direction that Kara wasn't entirely comfy with, she flexed and unflexed her fingers in an effort to stay calm. Lena caught her eyes from her seat.

"So you're an orphan?" Lena asked. She was reclined in her seat, her entire stance portraying a challenge, but her voice was devoid of any animosity. 

"Um, I guess?" Kara said, swallowing nervously, she could see Lena's face soften a fraction, "but I've got a cousin, Clark. He went here too." All of a sudden all the softness in Lena's face disappeared. Kara could tell she'd said something wrong even before the uncomfortable silence descended upon the class.

"Clark? As in Clarke Kent?" Lena was furious, but the quiet kind, every word said with a sharpened edge. Kara nodded stiffly. The fury condensed into something akin to pity, pity for the unfortunate luck of this girl. Associated with two of greatest enemies of the Luthor name. 

Kara would have kept standing awkwardly in the front of the class if not for the teacher, Mr Jonzz, nudging her slightly in the direction of her seat.

▪

When Lena got back to her room, two hours late because of a meeting with the Engineering Club running long, she could swear she could hear sniffling. Sniffling coming from 307, meaning Kara Danvers was crying. Her heart clenched at the thought that she'd done that, before she let out a silent scoff at the fact that the girl would cry over what she'd done. Lena had experienced worse in the first ten minutes of stepping into this hell hole, she'd never cried. Luthors have thicker skin than that.

She wasn't even crying loudly, it was soft enough to carry across the thin walls, but not much else. Maybe she didn't know how thin the walls were, or maybe she didn't care, anyhow it was inconveniencing Lena, she was reducing to tiptoeing in her own room so as not to disturb her. It seemed overly cruel after she'd been the one that caused this. She heard another voice in the room.

"No it wasn't Lena," Kara said from across the barrier, as if she'd read Lena's mind, "Alex I'm serious. She just tripped me and glared at me a little, I haven't seen her since school ended."

'Okay,' Lena thought as she stood up from her bed, where she'd been listening with her ear to the wall. 

"I tried out for the school newspaper." A pause as the other voice said something she couldn't make out, and she settled back to eavesdropping. "I know now it was a mistake... I've never been so thoroughly cussed out before. Objectively I'm impressed. She said I could be her PA, but not to disgrace her unless she'd rip my wounded baby bird arms off…"

"Oh, I didn't tell you. She called me a wounded baby bird, and that she'd let nature take care of me to save her the burden of turning me into a person worthy of her time." 

"That's... that's illegal Alex. Yes I'm sure." Her sure was punctuated with the beginnings of a laugh, one that sounded so full of life that Lena almost choked. "Also, what did you do that half the school hates you and the other half thinks you're a god?" Lena wondered which of Alex's many stories she was telling Kara.

"Is that why he hates me? You can't just break people's noses Alex!" Maxwell Lord, a classic. "That's different. It was an accident."

"Didn't he know you weren't straight?" That startled Lena, so much so that she ended up jabbing the wall with her elbow. She could hear the exact moment Kara heard the sound and froze. "Um, Alex I'll call you later, yeah everything is fine, send Maggie my love. Okay, love you, bye."

'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' Lena thought as she scrambled to look normal, then she paused, tossing off one of her shoes onto her bed. She could hear Kara leaving her room.

"I'm a fucking Luthor, I'm smart enough to pull this off," she chided herself under her breath. Kara knocked, startling her again. She ran a hand through her hair, loosened her tie, and kicked off her other shoe before answering the door.

"Yes?" She asked as she opened the door. Before her was Kara Danvers, dressed in her pyjamas at five in the afternoon. "Can I help you?"

"Um, I came over to apologise for yesterday. It really was an accident. I hope we could be friends." If Lena hadn't just been listening in on her conversation, if she couldn't see the vestiges of redness in Kara's eyes, if she didn't remember that she could have very much been the reason why, if she didn't know for a fact that Kara had just made all of that up on the spot, then maybe she wouldn't have slammed the door in her face without a second glance.

▪

Kara got her tour of the school on her second day, was told a day late not to bring up the name Clarke Kent, not to attempt to talk to Cat Grant without proof of competence, and the story behind 307. The room that Alex had cringed when she heard Kara was assigned. Also the room that had once upon a time had been Lex Luthor's room, before he graduated and became Lex Luthor, felon. 

Winn would've been super useful a day earlier. For all its worth, he gave her the name of her assigned tutor, Lucy Lane, and adviced she try out for the track team. Then, satisfied with his guide, he offered to sit with her at lunch as she'd been alone the day before.

Winn, she learnt, came with an entourage. This included the girl from her maths class, Lucy, and her boyfriend James. James also came with his rugby buddies, but they only went so far as escorting him to the table before giving thinly veiled excuses to leave. All except one, Mike. Mike took the liberty of squishing himself between Winn, the only person Kara actually knew, and Kara herself.

"I'm Mike," the boy said, pushing Winn farther down the bench, "but you can call me Mon-El. And you are?"

"Kara, Kara Danvers," she managed to stutter out, made supremely uncomfortable by how close he was sitting, a fact that no one on the small table missed.

"Well, Kara Kara Danvers, if you're ever looking for someone to show you around…"

"I already did that," Winn interrupted from behind Mon-El's shoulder.

"If you want a more in depth tour…"

"Dude, quit it," James said, "ignore him, he's quite tactless." 

Mon-El slid exaggeratedly backwards, almost pushing Winn off the bench for good, holding both his hands up as he sent a smirk her way.

"I'm James," the boy introduced himself , "this is Lucy, my girlfriend, and I guess you've already met Winn."

"Lucy Lane at your service, Winn told me that you're interested in joining the track team." Kara sent a pointed look over Mon-El's shoulder, Winn pretended to not notice. "Tryouts are everyday this week." When Kara's face fell, she added, "Think of it as your opportunity to keep Winn in the minority." James waved the rugby ball in his hand, and Mon-El sent another cocky smile in her direction.

"It's just… Cat already thinks I'm not serious about being on the newspaper, and I'm already behind and it's only the second day," Kara would have gone on babbling if she hadn't looked up to see all four of them staring at her.

"Me and Mon-El can talk to Cat for you," James offered. 

"We've been known to be quite convincing," Mon-El added, cracking his knuckles.

"Please, Cat can deck both of you," Lucy said to the boys, and then to Kara, "What they actually mean is that they'll get on their knees and beg her."

"And Lucy and I can tutor you whenever you need it, so you're golden," Winn said pointedly at James.

"I see that jab at my English, Schott, but I'll let it slide this one time. Just remember what I know."

"What do you know?" Lucy asks, putting on what must be her best pouty face.

"Babe it's prime blackmail material, I can't just say it."

"Okay, you just remember what I know."

In the smallest non intrusive voice she could mister, Kara said, "Okay, I'll come." It almost went unnoticed by the group, but Lucy caught the tail end of her statement and asked her to repeat it, which she did. Lucy's smile almost brightened up her entire day.

▪

Track tryouts, unlike everything else she'd experienced, was actually easy. It was maybe the only thing an American education had actually prepared her for. A mile was 1.6km and she had to keep making the conversion in her head. She had more stamina than most of the other people trying out, though she found it hard to translate her speed to less than a quarter of the distance she was used to.

Lucy, she found out, was not the captain of the track team. The captain was a girl that went only by Vasques, that smiled, actually smiled, at Kara when she introduced herself as a Danvers, and then went on to tell Kara of how Alex had started a task force to investigate sexual assault on campus after Susan - she entrusted Kara with her name like it's a baby bird - got brushed off by the administration. 

Kara promised to tell Alex that her task force hadn't fallen apart since she graduated, and that she was still not forgiven for doing her A - levels elsewhere.

 

▪

There were three people Lena Luthor often described with the word hate. One was Lillian Luthor, her adoptive mother who only ever talked to her when she needed her to be a pawn in whatever game she was playing. The second was Lex, who was currently behind bars, but still finding a way to ruin her life. The third was currently yapping on about what he thought the engineering society should do next. 

Maxwell Lord was living proof of evolution, he was a few steps behind the average person in terms of tact. Regardless of his shitty attitude, he was plenty smart, with an ego to match. She didn't even hate him because of how arrogant and self assured he was, no, she absolutely detested him because he reminded her of how unfair her life was. While she was only really terrible by association and hated by general consensus, he was what a piece of horse shit would look like if it dressed purposely dishevelled, and he was maybe the second most loved person. 

Now, he was leading the entire engineering society out onto the tracks, even though he knew that it was being used, because as he also knew, most of the flack would go to her; the Luthor. Then, he planted himself dead in the middle lane.

Whoever it was must have been going really fast or been closing their eyes, because all of a sudden Lena was falling, and as she fell she couldn't even be surprised that this would happen to her of all people. She was surprised by how much it hurt when her wrist snapped back, underneath the weight of the person that had fallen on her, and slightly impressed with the small squeak that she let out; she was in pain.

Shortly after that she heard a small crunch, and upon turning her head, saw a familiar pair of glasses being crushed beneath Jess' shoes. She wanted to sigh, but her jaw was too firmly clenched for that.

"Are you alright?" Kara said, offering her a hand up, which she took without moving to much because it hurt (no other reason). Kara must've seen her hand, because she said, voice firmer than Lena had ever heard it, "I'm taking her to the nurse."

She picked up her cracked and bent glasses from the floor, lenses spiderwebbed and one arm completely detached, and led Lena by the hand she was already holding. Lena tried her hardest to keep her pain off her face, but she must've been doing a terrible job. Kara stopped them abruptly, jostling her hand a little and causing her to flinch. All of a sudden she was directly in front of Lena, undoing her tie while wearing only a sports bra and running shorts. Lena silently prayed that Kara would take her turning red as some sort of side effect of her injury. She was fashioning some sort of sling from her tie.

"Is this okay? I'm not really well versed in this stuff." Lena gave a tight nod, and Kara returned it, before taking her hand again, giving it a small squeeze, and continuing. Lena watched as she missed the turn to the sick bay.

"Do you know the way to the sick bay?" Lena asked, her voice laced with more standoffishness than intended. Kara's hand went stiff in hers before gripping softly again.

"Honestly I'm not sure." Lena let out an exasperated sigh before turning them around.

▪

Kara, as Lena learnt, loved talking, or so it seemed. It started with Kara trying to look everywhere but at Lena as they waited for the nurse to come back and properly address Lena's situation, then it suddenly turned into Kara asking, "what's your house?".

Lena stared at her incredulously, they were next door neighbours, they lived in the same house. "Kara, we live in Griffith," Lena said deadpan.

"No, no. I meant like hogwarts house. I'm a Hufflepuff. It's weird, all my knowledge about British boarding schools comes from a children's book series, and it's not even slightly accurate," she paused for a breath, "and I know Alex told me that already, I just thought it'd be a little more whimsy and a lot less homework. Do all schools over here give this much homework or is it just here?"

Lena wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical, Kara looked like she wanted to continue, but she was also staring at Lena expectantly.

"'Homework builds character'," when Kara didn't reply, she added, "that's a direct quote from my mother by the way."

Before Kara could reply, the nurse walked peered through her office door and called Lena in. Just before stepping through the doorway, Lena turned back and answered Kara's first question, "Slytherin."

▪

The sound of snapping woke Kara up. Standing above her was Lena, arm wrapped in a bandage and held up by a sling.

"I was gone for like ten minutes, how are you already asleep?"

"Um," Kara said rubbing her palms against her eyelids, "I stayed up yesterday trying to get caught up." Lena had heard her, while she had been up too.

"So thanks to you my hand is going to be out of commission for the foreseeable future," Lena had been thinking through her next words all the while the nurse was setting her wrist, "You're going to help rectify that, you'll be my hands, ie take my notes, write my homework after I've solved it, and I'll tutor you."

"Lucy Lane, I'm aware." When Kara gave her a questioning look, she added, "I know almost everything that goes on here." 'I know why you're really here,' she doesn't say. "Lucy's okay, but I'm the best in our set. By my own merit."

Kara couldn't help but wonder why Lena felt the need to add that.

"Okay," Kara said. This was the closest she would probably come to a truce with Lena.

"On your word." Kara nodded and they sealed it with a handshake.


	2. Hold My Liquor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd forgive me.  
> Chapter title is from the Kanye West song of the same name.  
> Sorry for the wait, I had mock exams.

There were many metaphorical heads of the school. One was Lena Luthor, obviously, with her inherited power and reputation. Another was Cat Grant, with her near monopoly on all information. Pit up against her was Lois Lane, chief editor of the yearbook. The last head returned from a seven week suspension four days after school started up.

Roulette wasn't someone Lena hated, no it was more like her nickname left a sour taste in her mouth. The name seemed to be on the tip of everyone's tongues when Lena walked into the school building. She'd expected her news to have spread by the time she woke, but as Jess had helpfully informed her while simultaneously glaring at Kara (who was carrying all of Lena's stuff), Roulette was back.

True to form, Kara was the first person to run into her; literally. The girl had been having problems with navigating since her glasses were unwearable at the moment. Lena had overheard Alex chiding her and then promising to bring her spare pair on the weekend.

"Are you blind?" Roulette said, and she could hear the moment the entire hallway went silent.

"Um, I have really bad eyes and my glasses are kinda out of commission-" Kara stopped rambling when a blurry finger appeared in front of her lips. 'She actually has really pretty eyes,' Lena thought to herself. When Kara had stopped off at her room earlier that day to walk with her to class, Lena had given them a fraction of a glance before she decided she probably shouldn't. 

"I didn't ask to hear your life story…" she paused, looking thoughtful, "who are you exactly?"

Lena watched as Kara went to nervously adjust her glasses before hitting the bridge awkwardly. "Kara Danvers?" It took all the willpower Lena had to not face palm.

"Danvers. That's interesting, you're less feisty than the other one." The she turned her attention to Lena. "Luthor, the fuck happened to your hand?

Lena just pointed to Kara.

"So that's why she's with you, capitalising on free labour. I like how you think." Lena could only muster up a small grimace for the girl. "Now I must be going, there's hell to raise."

▪

Kara managed to keep her questions internalised all through breakfast and all her first classes, but the moment Lena and her were alone in a corner of the library, she spoke up. "Who was that?" Lena didn't respond, "earlier today."

"I know who you're referring to, and it's for the best that you know as little about her as possible," Lena said, not looking up from her notebook. She was looking for the notes she took on her first day.

"Why?" Kara whisper shouted.

Lena almost said, "She's the only person who would be your complete downfall." Because she'd read Kara's file, she knew why she was here now, why she got expelled from her last school. Instead she looked straight into Kara's eyes and said, "If Darth Vader and Voldemort had a kid it would be her."

That seemed to get her point across well enough, Kara dropped the issue.

"Read through this first, then tell me what you don't get," she said and passed Kara her chemistry note. Lena made a point of keeping comprehensive notes, mixing in her thoughts, questions, and observations in different coloured pens. She doubted it wouldn't be sufficient. Kara nodded in acknowledgement. 

She flipped open the first page, and like magic, her phone rang. Lena was slightly ashamed that she recognized the song. Kara's ears turned red as she searched through her bag for the phone. Lena couldn't help but tease her.

"N'sync, really?" She said, and watched Kara turn redder.

"It's a play on words, irony maybe?" She seemed poised to ramble when she finally grabbed her phone, and celebrated a bit too loudly, earning a few harsh shushes. "Sorry, it's Cat. I think she needs something."

"You're not going to answer it?"

"Nah, she says she doesn't think I have anything of importance to say to her, so she calls me to 'summon' me. I'm really sorry though, but can I just take this with me. I'll bring it back in mint condition, guides' honour."

Lena tried not to let the information she knew via eavesdropping affect her response, but for some reason as she looked at Kara all she could remember is what Cat did last time. She had to stop herself from making up some reason for Kara to stay. 

"Okay, tell Cat 'Hi' from me." She didn't miss the look of confusion on Kara's face as she packed up her stuff.

▪

Kara got her note back to her late Friday night, when the muffled thumping of music from the floor below them was keeping Lena awake and giving her an excuse to stay up reading. 

She was used to it already, the end of first week parties. There were always several, the loudest of which almost always happened in her own dorm building, and she'd suffered through enough of them to know she was not going to get any sleep. Not to say she wasn't invited, her invitation had been slipped underneath her door earlier that day, and thrown in the bin not long after. 

It wasn't like they actually expected her there, it was just another perk of the name, one she expected extended to her next door neighbour. Alex Danvers had been quite a legend in the party scene in her earlier years. So when Kara knocked on her door, dressed in a unicorn onesie, looking absolutely defeated, under the pretense of returning her study materials, Lena couldn't help but quip.

"Having some trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah. Do you have any idea when it's gonna be over?" Kara said as she very non-slyly leaned on the door frame for support.

Lena looked at the watch on her arm, five past midnight, "Another six hours maybe." Kara groaned, and tried to keep her balance. "I'd have expected you'd be down there, enjoying the first party of your school year."

Kara fixed her with a curious look, "Do I give off that kind of vibe?"

Lena thought it over briefly, "Not really."

Kara rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, and adjusted her stance slightly, "anyway, I wasn't invited."

"Would you like to go?" Lena asked, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could think them through, her mouth somehow finding autonomy from her brain. "I have an invite I'm not using." She discreetly eyed the bin behind her door.

"Not my scene, remember? Plus I don't know anyone there."

"Then go socialise," Lena said, ignoring the part of her brain that knew why parties weren't Kara's scene. She watched as Kara turned it over, almost every thought evident on her face, before she gave up.

"Okay, I'll go change."

"You look fine."

▪

"Lena Luthor and a unicorn walk into a party, I don't know which is less plausible," Roulette said when she spotted them walking in. Kara self consciously pushed her hood down, doubt flashing across her face. "Oh, it's just a puppy in a unicorn costume. Cute."

"Ignore her," Lena said, taking Kara's hand and leading her towards one of the common room couches. The party seemed to be in full swing around them. From where she was, she could see the drinks table, manned by the boys' rugby team. "I'm going to get a drink."

"I don't drink," Kara basically whispered, but Lena heard her nonetheless, and gave a slight nod before setting off.

By the time she'd managed to scavenge two bottles of water, someone had taken her seat on the couch. Kara was sat all the way at the end of the couch, looking supremely uncomfortable, and next to her, back to Lena, was none other than the school's golden boy. Even from where she stood, she could tell he was bragging about being 32nd in line for the throne of some little European country, the same story he'd tried to spew at her, all of a term ago.

"Hey, Lena you're back," Kara said, voice adopting a decidedly false lilt to it. Mike turned around, stupid smirk already forming as he faced her.

"Yeah… the water's a bit frozen," Lena said, ignoring the boy between them, and passing Kara both bottles of water. "Did I miss anything while I was gone?"

"Uh, Mike was just telling me that he's actually royalty."

"30th in line," Mike added smugly. "Can I get you ladies anything to drink?"

"No thank you," Lena said, voice faux saccharine, as she put her good hand on his chest. Then with her voice low and deep, hand gripping the neck of his shirt, she added, "She's off limits." Her eyes were piercing, her voice convincing. He would have had to be stupid to disagree with her. Instead, he gulped and gave a slight nod before scurrying off, casting a sly smirk backwards to ward off suspicion. 

"What did you just do?" Kara asked, as Lena took her seat next to her. It wasn't accusatory, it was just a question, no underlying motives or intentions. Kara Danvers, Lena decided right there, was a breath of fresh air.

"Saved you at least three months of stress. I don't think he'll bother you anymore," Lena said, and took a long sip of her water. 

An uncomfortable silence fell over them as they watched the party from their seat. For a moment Lena wondered if it was a good idea to bring Kara to a party she knew she couldn't participate in. 

"They seem to be having fun," Kara commented offhandedly, gesturing to a couple that had plastered themselves to the wall just off to her side.

"These things seem to be more fun when you're drunk."

"I don't drink."

"I don't suspect you'll ever tell me why. Maybe you're super religious, or allergic."

"Something like that," Kara mumbled, and Lena got the message that she didn't want to talk about it.

"For the record I don't either," Lena said standing up. When Kara didn't get up after her, she added, "C'mon, we're going somewhere that's fun even without alcohol."

▪

"I just realised we might not have the same definition of fun," Kara said as Lena flicked on the lights in the hallway of a building Kara didn't recognise. She fiddled with the empty water bottle in her hands. Lena just shrugged and continued down the hall. "Where are we?"

"Cadmus building," Lena answered off handedly as she searched the nameplates on the doors. "Science is the light that fights off the monsters in the darkness." She sounded like she was quoting, who? Kara had no idea. "Mother's words," she added, looking over her shoulder at Kara. "Here." 

The room Lena led her into was pitch black, but as Lena flicked another light switch it came to life. Every surface in the room was turned into the vastness of outer space. Lena could pin point the exact moment Kara realised what she was looking at. She got this look of awestruck wonder and kind of sank to a sitting position, and just stared.

"This is amazing," Kara remarked, eyes tracking the constellations, mouth contorted in what Lena guessed was an actual smile, one she realised she'd never seem before, one that lit up the room more than the stars. The realization dawned on her that for the first time she was seeing Kara Danvers truly happy.

"This was Lex's, he used to bring me here and tell me all the stories behind all the constellations," Lena said, her voice taking on a wistful nostalgic quality, "I never really got the hang of it, but I think he just liked an excuse to talk about it."

"It reminds you of him," Kara said.

"Everything reminds me of him, it's impossible to forget him, what he did, when my last name is bloody Luthor. It's been years and I'm still carrying his cross," Lena flared with rage, then stilled, thinking better of it. She sat down beside Kara. "This is my last good memory, okay? This was the last place he was Lex, my older brother, not Lex Luthor, Bigoted Felon."

"What'd he do?"

"He burnt down a refugee shelter with everyone still inside, said it was for a greater Britain."

"Oh."

"Yeah, a real cluster fuck. I need a drink," Lena declared, standing up abruptly. 

"I thought you didn't drink?"

"I prefer to be inebriated in my own company." At the worried look on Kara's face, she added, "Don't worry I won't be too loud about it."

▪

Things went downhill fast the next day. A night of copious drinking, with self loathing added in when she'd felt the sting of tears to be drowned out with more alcohol, gave way to a morning of everything being too loud, too bright, too everything. She had to physically restrain herself from throwing her phone across the room at the sound of her alarm. The only upside was that nearly everyone else was hungover, so at least some people would have the manners to be quiet.

The downside, however, was that even though Lillian chose to ignore the partying the previous day, the first Saturday of half term was always Hell; capital letters and all. For Lena it was even more so because Lillian insisted on speaking to her personally every first Saturday, most likely trying to catch her hungover. Which she'd now given her the pleasure of holding against her.

Lillian was the pettiest person Lena knew. As Lena sat in her slightly smaller chair looking at Lillian towering over her, by virtue of the smallness of her chair in relation to Lillian's, she strained to keep her posture straight as she stared the woman down.

"I see you had a fun time last night," Lillian said, poking at Lena, metaphorically, seeing where she could attack from.

"What do you want, Mother?" She didn't have the energy to start something with her mother.

"Can't a mother just want bonding time with her daughter?" Lillian asked, putting on an almost sincere look of concern. Lena wasn't falling for it.

"If you wanted to know how I was doing, you'd ask about my arm," Lena said deadpan.

"What in heavens happened to your arm?" Lillian asked as if she'd just now noticed it, instead of unabashedly ignoring it.

"Broken wrist, sprained elbow."

"An altercation, I presume. Lena, dear, fighting is unbecoming," Lillian's voice slipped into condescension. 

Teeth gritted, Lena said, "It was an accident."

"How does one accidentally get in a fight?"

"I was accidentally tackled."

"By whom?"

Reluctantly, Lena said, "Kara Danvers."

"I told Lionel we shouldn't have let her in, with that temper of her, Danvers legacy or not," Lillian said in that voice that meant she was planning something. Lena had to nip it in the bud.

"She's off limits," Lena said.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?"

"I'm the one who can sink this entire ship. I know enough to send you to the cell right next to Lex's." At the look of apprehension on Lillian's face, she added, "I'm a Luthor after all, learnt from the best. 

Her mother's face was a mix of pride and a warning sneer as she walked out.

▪

Lena couldn't seem to get break, after having to deal with her mother she was looking forward to maybe getting an hour or two more, but sadly today was not her day. Standing in front of her room door, dressed in all black, hands on her hips in her former head girl way, was Alex Danvers. Lena considered walking all the way to Bradford house to Jess' room just to avoid the inevitable confrontation, but Alex had already spotted her.

"Luthor," she yelled after her. Lena bit back a cringe and walked towards Alex. "Do you know what this is?" Alex held up a pair of glasses that looked identical to the ones that Jess had stepped on a few days before. 

"Glasses?"

"Correct. Now why could you please tell me why I'm bringing my little sister her spare glasses six days into term?"

Lena was not in the mood, if she was she'd probably engage in the passive aggressive dance Alex was trying to start. "Look, I get your doing the big sister thing right now, threatening me and all, but frankly I do not give a shit right now. I would like to go lay on my bed and wake up entirely refreshed, as much as I think you're looking for a reason to start something physical with me, but sadly not all dreams come true. If you'd excuse me," Lena said, voice deadpan, as she pushed past Alex into her room and aggressively closed the door quietly. 

▪

There was a knock on her door, and Lena sighed as she stood up from her desk. There was only one person who ever knocked before entering; Jess had a habit of simply appearing in Lena's room whenever she needed something, and Lena didn't have any other friends that visited.

"What do-" Lena started, then paused when she saw Kara standing in her doorway holding a box of cupcakes.

"Hear me out okay?" Kara asked. Lena was blocking her totally from entering her room. "These are apology cupcakes, I made Alex buy them with her own money, and I wasn't sure which flavours you liked so I had her buy one of each. I'm sorry."

"What do you want?" Lena repeated, she hated how tired she sounded, how tired she felt. 

"To apologise for my sister's behaviour, and for bringing up bad memories."

"I don't want your pity, okay?" She said and tried to close her door in Kara's face, but Kara wedged it with her foot.

"I'm not pitying you, I'm trying to be your friend!"

"I neither want nor need your friendship."

"Too bad, you've got it," Kara said and gently pushed past Lena into her room. She cleared some space on Lena's desk and put down the cupcakes. "What did Alex and Clark do that you hate me so much?" That had Lena livid. 

"Whenever have I expressed that I hated you? What reason have I given you to come to the conclusion that I somehow judge you by anyone's merits but your own?" Kara opened her mouth to respond. "You haven't seen a quarter of what I could do to you, if I hated you a fraction of the way you think I do."

"Lena-"

"Please take your cupcakes and leave."

▪

Kara showed up for their scheduled study sessions for the next two and a half weeks, but Lena didn't. She didn't see her in the hallway between classes, Lena wasn't in class, wasn't in her room, she'd effectively disappeared. For two and a half weeks Lena vanished off the face of the earth, and in the middle of the night on a Wednesday, Kara heard the sound of Lena retching into the bathroom sink as she walked back to her room from a long day at the school newspaper. 

She paused in the doorway and regarded Lena, face puffy and eyes red from crying. As if she could sense her, Lena turned to look at her and in a voice that chilled Kara to her bones, she said, "We don't talk about this."


	3. I'd Rather Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly set up and is a bit shorter than usual, but the next one will probably be longer. It's Unbeta'd so tread lightly. I'm Iylleven on tumblr, if you're interested in beta'ing for me you can tell me on there.

Kara had a hard time not talking about it. She and Lena resumed their tutoring sessions, Kara did her part as Lena's hand. She sat with Winn, James and Lucy; occasionally Mike would make to approach their table, but would think better of it before walking away. She worked with (for) Cat, and ran track. She itched to go back to the star room, but she kept that to herself. When Alex called, which was becoming less and less frequently as the days went by, she pretended everything was normal.

Everything was not normal, it was almost normal. Sure she and Lena were on okay terms, but Lena had taken to spending all her free time in her room with the door locked. There was an indiscernible change in Lena, a tiny shit that Kara couldn't pin point, only the vague feeling of something off. At least until Lena punched Veronica Sinclair in the face.

Kara had walked into the tail end of the argument completely by accident, she'd been walking to her and Lena's usual table when she spotted the two of them between the stacks. If Kara hadn't been all too familiar with the look on Lena's face she'd have thought they were up to something else. Kara couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were whispering so low that if they weren't inches away from each other's faces Kara didn't think they'd hear each other either. Kara wasn't even sure if they were arguing or Lena was attacking her, Roulette looked like the epitome of calmness and Lena looked like a mess.

The Lena Kara knew was the picture of comportment even when she was technically yelling at her. 'Something is wrong with her,' Kara thought, and as soon as the thought formed in her head, Lena swung her good arm at Roulette's face and the taller girl went down immediately. 

Kara was so dumbstruck she didn't notice Lena walk up to her, take her hand in her bloody one, and lead her away to the bathroom.

"What was that?" Kara whisper yelled as Lena washed her hands in the sink. When Lena didn't respond she added, "You're not supposed to run water over it."

"Excuse me?" Lena said, her voice still had an angry edge to it. Kara flinched. "I'm sorry, you were saying." She ran her wet hand through her hair.

"Come on, I've got a first aid kit in my room."

"We can't go now, school's still on." Kara looked at her with disbelief. 

"You literally just punched a girl in the face, I think the rules are already out the window."

"Goody two shoes Danvers has a dark side?" Lena said playfully, and regretted it a moment later when Kara gulped slightly and replied. 

"Something like that." She hadn't thought about it before she'd spoken, the things in Kara's past that Kara didn't know that she knew, didn't show any indication of letting Lena know, flashed through her mind, and Lena almost regretted reading Kara's file.

"Okay."

"Also," Kara said as she walked out of the bathroom, "you don't punch with your thumb in your fist, you could break it."

▪

"You're lucky you didn't break this hand too, there are some things I would not do for you."

Lena didn't rester the joke, she was too busy looking at Kara's room. She knew the room before Kara moved in, but she couldn't recognize the room. There were things that were obviously different, like the N'SYNC poster above the headboard, the desk was on the other side of the room and littered with papers that were ridiculously highlighted like every piece of information was important, little things that imbued the room with a Karaness. It was the first time Lena had ever seen the room as anything other than Lex's room.

That wasn't to say that there weren't traces of Lex in the room. Lena could still pick out the faint dent where Lex had slammed his fist into the wall out of anger, and she'd watched from almost this exact spot; maybe a bit to the right. She could see the space under the door where Lex had realigned it so his room wouldn't be completely closed off from the world outside. In this room existed both versions of her brother, the one who played chess with her and told her Greek myths, and the one who walked into a homeless shelter for refugees at 3am and burned it to the ground.

If she looked hard enough, she could see the darker side of Kara too. A plastic chip spied for the brief second it took to get a pair of scissors from her desk drawer, small exes marking days on the calendar above her desk that mysteriously coincided on days that Lena knew Kara had school newspaper meetings. 

"Lena," Kara said, snapping her fingers in front of her face to get her attention, "I actually need your hand to be able to clean it." When Lena wordlessly handed her her newly injured hand, Kara added, "Okay, you're not up to humour now. So are you going to tell me what happened or are we 'not talking about it'."

Lena wasn't sure if Kara was talking about her punching Veronica or about the other thing, but she didn't feel up to talking about either anyway.

"Correcting a misunderstanding on her part," Lena said coolly, and Kara nodded with a small hum. Then she rubbed the liquid equivalent of fire on Lena's split knuckle and Lena struggled to control her reaction to a small hiss.

"Stop being a baby, it doesn't hurt that badly."

"How would you know?"

"I made a lot of stupid decisions a while back," Lena could tell from the look on Kara's face that she was debating whether to continue, "It's also how I know how to wrap it up so you don't have to explain why you have split knuckles at the exact same time Roulette happens to have a bloody nose. So I guess everything happens for a reason." Kara stepped back, admiring her handywork (pun unintended), the same moment Lena's phone buzzed with a message from Lillian.

"I have to go," Lena said as she stood up, "thank you though."

"If you want to talk about whatever's going on with you right now, I'm here," Kara called after Lena as she left.

▪

Lena was running on borrowed fucks to give. The day had started badly, first finding out she'd been given a zero for an assignment that she'd missed even though she'd been on academic leave, then the thing with Veronica, along with the fact that her hand had developed an ungodly itch that she couldn't reach no matter how hard she tried, and even with the brief respite courtesy of Kara she was still very much not in the mood.

So when she walked into Lillian's office to see Roulette seated and glaring daggers at her, she almost turned back around and walked out. Instead, she stood where she was, leaving herself at eye level with Lillian instead of being forced to look up at her from her very petty seating arrangement.

"Lena, I understand in light of recent events you may be looking to act out, but I see little merit in assaulting the daughter of one of the school's most generous patrons," Lillian said in that condescending way of hers that irked Lena to no extent. Afterwards, Lena wondered if it was her mother's tone or the actual words she said that pushed her straight from angry to incredulous, because she started laughing. Hysterical laughter that lasted a few beats too long and left the other two occupants of the room uncomfortable. "Lena-" Lillian started while Lena was still laughing, but Lena interrupted her.

"Mother," Lena said, in the Luthor Tone^TM, the one she'd been raised to cultivate, powerful with no room for interruption, the same one Lillian used to chide her with when she was younger and had nearly 'disgraced' the Luthor name. "Lillian. I know you're an apathetic, heartless, hateful, greedy, and honestly, petty woman but I honestly thought that maybe Lionel, your husband-"

"Lena," Lillian said in warning, but Lena ignored her. 

"He's dead mother, how can you feel nothing. He was your husband, my father, and you're here pretending I'm overreacting."

"I know how to control my emotions, a skill I presume you need to hone."

"You can't control what you don't have," and to Roulette she added, "If you ever go near her, I'll destroy you so thoroughly you'll need a third name."

Lena was half out the door when Lillian spoke again, "If you leave I'll be forced to suspend you, in-school, for a week."

"The proper punishment for assaulting a fellow student is two weeks, Lillian." With that she closed the door, ever so silently behind herself, only to see Kara staring wide eyed at her. "How much did you hear?"

Instead of answering, Kara just hugged Lena; because maybe she heard all of it.

Kara's hug, Lena noticed, was warm and tight and Lena swore she'd never been hugged so thoroughly, and when Kara pulled away and took Lena's hand in hers, Lena couldn't help the urge to cling to Kara like a lifeline. 

▪

"So what are you doing for exeat weekend?" Kara said once they'd settled in Lena's room. Kara was seated stiffly at the edge of Lena's bed while Lena rummaged through her desk for her flask. When she found it, she raised it triumphantly to the sky and took a swig. She caught the look of discomfort on Kara's face and tucked the bottle back into her desk drawer.

"Sorry, forgot about the whole no drinking thing. I'm staying here," Lena said with a sigh, "Mother likes to keep me close to the school, and I have to catch up with all the work I missed already anyway."

"Oh that's awful Lena," Kara said. Lena could hear the hint of pity in her voice, so she reassured Kara.

"It's not like I'm going to be alone, all the international kids are staying back too. Jess' parents are in Australia right now so she'll be here." 

"Why don't you come with me for exeat?" Lena froze, Kara seemed to notice as she kept rambling, "Alex's going to be cramming for A - levels the whole time or hanging out with Maggie, and Jeremiah and Eliza work all the time, so the entire house is going to be empty. Plus we can finally work out that truce, and you can help me study for end of terms because God knows you're the only reason I haven't failed out yet."

"The last part isn't compulsory," Kara added when she saw Lena's face drop.

"It's okay Kara, I've spent every exeat since year 7 in school. I'm used to it."

"Think of it as avoiding your mother and all the other stuff that seem to be bothering you for three whole days," Kara said, wiggling her eyebrows at Lena.

Lena just shook her head and sat down next to Kara, albeit more comfortably on her own bed. Kara took her cue and scooted back until her back was against the wall.

"I'm extremely persuasive."

"Previous records tend to disagree."

"I'm persistent."

"Quite, but I've dealt with worse. Maxwell had a crush on me for two whole terms in year 8. Though I don't think that's got anything on Mon-hell."

"Oh my goodness Lena, you have no idea." Kara grabbed both her hands. "So this theater kid, Mxy, gets down on one knee and propositions me on the track, mind you this was at the end of an 800m run so I'm so not in the mood, I'm basically having fantasies about the lukewarm bottle of water that's waiting for me in the stands and this guy is blocking the finish line; if you don't cross it doesn't count. "

Lena watched in wonderment as Kara narrated the story, as she gestured wildly as she spoke, as her hands always found their way back to Lena's at every period, comma, and the occasional semicolon. 

"Then Mon-El challenges him to a fencing duel," Kara said deadpan.

"Isn't Mxy the captain of the fencing team?"

"Yeah, but Mon-El didn't known that. He just wanted to battle for my hand like a knight in shining armor or something. Which was weird because he'd basically been avoiding me like the plague since the party."

"Weird," Lena replied, and Kara narrowed her eyes in suspicion. 

"Lena… did you do something?"

"What? Me? No." A pause. "Of course it was me. He was basically harassing you!"

"What'd you do?"

"I talked to him a bit. Would you have preferred I sparred him? I did fence for most of primary school." Kara had to bite the side of her cheek to keep herself from laughing, she did however turn very red.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I'm just imagining a tiny Lena with an itty bitty fencing sword."

"You're incorrigible."

"I'm taking that as a compliment." Lena shook her head disbelievingly. "So are you coming or what?"

"Fine," Lena said in defeat.

"Told you I was convincing."

"You didn't convince me. You live in Midvale right?" Kara nodded. "The seaside convinced me."

Kara playfully punched Lena's shoulder, and Lena smiled.


End file.
